Here is the basement of the temple:

Toggle: SECRET layer to show/hide the secret passage escape route.

Description

Although trainees and junior monks live in barracks on the monastery’s grounds, the more senior monks have quarters in the temple’s basement, where trainees may join them for the final meal of the day. The basement also includes a kitchen and a crematorium, which share a chimney that rises outside the temple on its northwest side. Senior monks are interred in sarcophagi in the temple’s crypts when they pass away, but trainees and junior monks are cremated, with their cremains interred in urns in a columbarium.

A circular room that connects to the crypts is used for funeral services and other rituals. There is a teleportation portal here that the senior monks can use to access the Zhao Guang Si’s Trials of the Elements. Trainees who survive those trials will be teleported where upon completion of all four trials.

Here are the five above-ground levels of the Zhao Guang Si Temple (the basement will be separate).

Toggle: LIGHTING layer to show/hide the red glow throughout most of the temple.

Description

At the Zhao Guang Si monastery, a five-story pagoda temple rises through the mists and clouds. The wooden walls are painted with a dark lacquer, and the lanterns are covered with a red gauze that gives the interior an ominous red glow. A center oaken beam rises through every floor, providing structural support for the temple. 

First Floor

The first floor is dominated by a 40-foot statue of a man sitting cross-legged. Although there are four windows, two on each wall flanking the statue, they generally remain closed and shuttered so that the only light comes from the red lanterns.

Second Floor

This floor consists primarily of a balcony overlooking the temple floor below. The statue is large enough to still be higher than the monks standing on the balcony. As with the other windows throughout the temple, the windows here are generally shuttered.

Third Floor

Except for a few closets for storing equipment, this floor primarily consists of a training room where trainees can spar with each other until they drop from exhaustion.

Fourth Floor

The library on this floor is the only room where the lanterns are not shrouded in red gauze, and the windows may remain open to allow for reading by daylight. 

Fifth Floor

The grandmaster has an office on this floor, but much of the floor is dedicated to the Chamber of Rituals, where it is said that senior monks may perform dark magic to enhance their abilities.

Here is the third of the three monasteries that I collaborated with @Ricko on for the Atlas. This is Zhao Guong Si, and it is located here (circled in the upper right corner):

There are a bunch of FCW files to submit because in addition to the monastery's grounds, we also go inside (and below) the temple, as well as in two "dungeons." I will post each discrete location separately in this thread.

First, the city map for the Zhao Guong Si monastery.

Toggle: CLOUDS layer to hide/reveal the clouds.

Description

Zhao Guang Si 

The Temple of the Morning Glow

Situated in a hidden valley where the morning mist never quite dissipates, Zhao Guang Si (Temple of the Morning Glow) is a place where deceptive beauty hides a dark core. Despite its poetic name, the temple is synonymous with silent death and lethal precision. Here, under the first rays of dawn, apprentices learn the art of killing. The morning glow symbolizes the last moment many see before their silent and ordered death.

The Dark Environment

The temple, with its angular and austere architecture, is surrounded by twisted trees and a river of dark waters that flows silently like clotted blood. The black stone walls are decorated with murals depicting stories of betrayal, revenge and glory gained by force. The only constant sound is the echo of calculated footsteps in the cold corridors. Lanterns covered with red veils create a blood-red glow, making the environment even more somber and oppressive. Life and Training

Those who come to Zhao Guang Si are desperate, rejected, or ambitious, seeking a new identity. Under the watchful eye of their masters, known as the Shadows of Dawn, the apprentices undergo intense and cruel training.

• Physical Training: They climb cliffs without ropes, traverse fields filled with deadly traps, and duel to exhaustion, all to strengthen their bodies and reflexes.

• Mental Training: They are taught to hide emotions, manipulate the minds of their targets, and plan assassinations with surgical precision.

• Practice of Forbidden Magic: The temple houses ancient grimoires containing magics that grant temporary invisibility, silencing voices, and even cursing the senses. These spells demand sacrifices, often blood, making the price of power high.

The Bond with the Emperor

Although few would admit it, rumors persist that the temple has deep ties to the imperial throne. Men of the Emperor’s Personal Guard, known for their lethality and unquestioning loyalty, are said to have received secret training at Zhao Guang Si. Some claim that the emperor himself is the temple’s greatest patron, using its resources to eliminate rivals and consolidate power.

Legends and Intrigues

The temple is shrouded in dark tales:

• The Ritual of the Scarlet Mist: It is said that an assassin can sacrifice his soul to merge with the shadows, becoming invincible for a night. But few return from this ritual unharmed.

• The Echo of the Morning Glow: Legend has it that those who hear a whisper at dawn are marked for death by a blade that will emerge from the temple.

• The Faceless Master: A mysterious leader who never reveals his identity rules the temple. Some say he is an ancient spirit who has ruled the place for centuries.

A Haven of Questionable Morality

Zhao Guang Si is not just a temple; it is a training ground, a storehouse of forbidden knowledge, and a center for the trade of death. Those who enter rarely leave, but for those who survive the rigorous training, life outside the shadows becomes irrelevant.

In the dim light of dawn, under the treacherous glow of morning, Zhao Guang Si molds assassins, manipulates destinies, and remains a dark pillar in the region's balance of power.

I like that idea very much. I use the Adjust Hue effect a lot when I need the same fill to be a bit lighter or darker in different places, but it’s helpful to have a range preexisting in the fills.

Trainees who survive the Trial of Fire and Ice are teleported to the Trial of the Elements. This is actually five separate, disconnected caverns that can only be accessed through teleportation portals.

Trainees appear on a teleportation portal on a dais in the center of an octagonal room. There are four daises on four of the walls, each with a teleportation portal. Before each is a circle inscribed with runes and a sigil marking their element: a cloud with a lightning bolt on the east for the Trial of Air; a symbol of flame on the south for the Trial of Fire; a drop of water on the west for the Trial of Water; and a gem on the north for the Trial of Earth.

There are four statues on the remaining corners: a cat, a winged person, a snake, and a demon's skull. When the room is entered, the skull statue will speak and tell trainees that they may embark on a psychic contest of wills with each statue to receive a benefit that will help their trials. For each, the Game Master will roll a d20+5. The trainee rolls a d20 and adds their Wisdom bonus. If the trainee's is higher, they win the contest and receive a magical benefit that lasts 24 hours. If they fail, there is no harm but they do not receive the bonus and cannot try again.

Success against the cat statue grants the magical ability of Spider Climb for 24 hours, while the winged statue grants Feather Fall, the snake grants immunity to poisons and venom, and the skull grants immunity to electrical/lightning damage. These benefits only last 24 hours.

Trainees can tackle the trials in any order they choose, but cannot teleport out until they have survived all four.

Trial of Air

Trainees must cross a cloudy room by leaping from pillar to pillar. If they slip, it's a 30 foot drop, and they will take damage unless they have Feather Fall. Some of the pillars delivery electrical damage unless they have immunity. And they may also be attacked by flying creatures (signified by hawks here, but Game Masters may choose to use harpies, elementals, or other flying creatures).

If they make it to the dais on the far wall, they can take a shard of crystal and be teleported back to the central room.

I'm not thrilled with how to tops of the outcrops look. Any recommendation on sheet effects settings is welcome.

Trial of Fire

Here, trainees leap from pillar to pillar, trying to avoid falling into the lava. (If they acquired a red crystal from the Trial of Fire and Ice, that will come in handy here.) There are also Fire Elementals (I used bonfire symbols from Darklands City -- love Mike Schley's newest symbol but the style didn't really work here.)

Trial of Water

The water is swimmable if trainees fall in, but it's icy cold and they will take damage unless they have a blue shard from the Trial of Fire and Ice. There are also sharks in the water as well as tentacle creatures.

Trial of Earth

This room is filled with venomous snakes and giant spiders, and diseased giant rats, so immunity to poison would be helpful here. The mushrooms are also poisonous if anyone is foolish enough to eat them.

Trainees who collect a shard from each of the rooms can activate the teleportation portal in the main room, which will transport them to the Ritual Room in the temple's basement.

Any recommendations on sheet effects, especially for the tops of the outcrops, are welcome.